Soldiers Side
by Annamia
Summary: As the battle of Hogwarts rages on, lives slip away, unnoticed and unheard. Songfic. Rated for death, violence, and morbidness.


_Author's note: Hello. I'm Marianne. I don't know if I've ever talked to you before. I don't think so. I don't tend to talk to people. But they're making me write my own author's notes, so I suppose I should get on with it.  
This is a songfic to System of a Down's song _Soldiers Side_. I only heard it a few days ago, but I fell in love with it, and immediately knew that I had to write about it. So I did. Given the nature of the song, morbidity was unavoidable, and I don't try to avoid it anyway. So yes, it's morbid. The song is about war, for Gods' sakes!_  
_Anyway, it's a series of brief images set during the final battle at Hogwarts. And yes, I realize that Draco didn't die. Allow me a slight artistic license please.  
--Marianne  
Disclaimer: were I Ms. Rowling, I don't think I would admit it. However, I would probably also not break my own cannon, so you can safely assume that I am not her, and thus do not own any of this. Nor am I a European rock band, oddly enough, so the song lyrics are not mine either.

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_Dead man lying on the bottom of the grave  
Wondering when Savior comes  
Is he gonna be saved_

Draco Malfoy's gray eyes were open, even in death. He had been killed only moments earlier, killed almost certainly by someone he had gone to school with, by someone he had known for almost half of his short life. He could not have said who. As he lay, eyes wide, chest still, he wondered if he would find peace, wondered if his side would win, and wondered why he cared. No one cared about him. He need no longer care about them. Slowly, Draco Malfoy stopped caring, and as he stopped caring, the small part of him that clung to life slipped away, and the corpse began to cool.

_Maybe you're a sinner into your alternate life  
Maybe you're a joker maybe you deserve to die_

Fred Weasley tried to smile at his brother as he fought to breathe. He knew that he was not long for this world, and he wanted to die as he had lived: laughing. But it was difficult, difficult to think of anything to laugh about. Before him, George stood, eyes wide with shock. Fred wanted to reach out and comfort him, but his arms had no strength left, and his eyes were beginning to dim. Somewhere, in the recesses of his soul, he found a memory, a gruesome memory of making one-eared jokes with his twin months – had it only been months? It felt like years – before. And Fred Wealsey got his wish; he died laughing.

_They were crying when their sons left  
God is wearing black  
He's gone so far to find no hope  
He's never coming back_

Molly Weasley could not believe that Ron had gone without telling her. How could he have done this to her? How could he simply have vanished, without giving her a chance to hug him and kiss him and demand sternly that he return in one piece? In this time of strife, Molly had no children to spare, and it broke her heart to know that he had simply gone. Worse, Arthur had known. Arthur had known, and he had said nothing. Molly Weasley tried to turn her thoughts to the future, but the only image she could see in her mind's eye was a long, thin coffin, and all she could hear was the sound of herself crying.

_They were crying when their sons left  
All young men must go  
He's come so far to find the truth  
He's never going home_

Andromeda Tonks held the baby like a lifeline, watching as her daughter and son-in-law slipped away from her. They had each other, yes, but she feared that it would not be enough. Nymphadora had given her the baby, and Andromeda knew that her daughter would not do that lightly. 'Take care of him for me,' she had said, and Andromeda Tonks knew that Nymphadora did not expect to return. So she clutched little Teddy and glared up at the sky, promising dreadful retribution if she was not proved wrong.

_Young men standing on the top of their own graves  
Wondering when Jesus comes  
Are they gonna be saved_

Colin Creevey whirled and ducked, casting spell after spell after spell, not even thinking about what he did any longer. He was tired. So very tired. How long had he been fighting? Hours? Days? Years? He did not know. All he knew was that he had to keep going, had to keep fighting. He shot another spell, ducked another attack, and tried to find Harry. He always tried to find Harry. Harry was the person they were fighting for. Harry was the person they followed, the person they tried to protect. And Harry was not there. Harry had abandoned them. Colin shot another spell at his opponent, and watched as it missed. He knew that his opponent's would not miss, and Colin did not want to duck. His hero had left, and Colin Creevey could not live without his hero. He felt the impact as the spell hit him squarely in the chest, and fell to the floor, eyes open and staring blankly into the fighting above.

_Cruelty to the winner, Bishop tells the King his lies  
Maybe you're a mourner, maybe you deserve to die_

Lavender Brown slumped against a wall, fighting to breathe. Her heart still pumped blood, but that blood never reached her appendages, never supplied her body, only flowed out of her chest, pooling on the floor before her. They were winning, she thought dimly. The Order. The side of Light. Her side. They were winning. She remembered that she should be happy, but joy was hard to find as she sat there, quietly dying. No one looked her way. They were all too busy. No one thought of Lavender. No one ever thought of Lavender. She was used to it by now, but it still hurt. As Lavender Brown slid out of the world, she tried to remember to be glad, tried to summon some joy at the victory to come, and found it more than she could manage.

_They were crying when their sons left  
God is wearing black  
He's gone so far to find no hope  
He's never coming back_

Severus Snape watched impassively as his students fought one another. It had come to this, had it? Brother against brother, House against House. His colleagues too fought, as he should be fighting. But for whom? For the creature he claimed to serve? Or for the man who had betrayed him? Severus could not decide. So he stood, watching, counting the dead and trying not to remember their faces. Yet, despite his best efforts, Severus Snape could not help imagining the visages he knew so well lying inert on the bloodied floor, eyes bright with youthful dreams and plans, all cut short, none to be accomplished.

_They were crying when their sons left  
All young men must go  
He's come so far to find no truth  
He's never going home_

Lucius Malfoy stumbled across his son's body lying, half trampled, in the center of the room, and allowed himself a shudder of horror. How had things come so far? He had never meant to kill Draco. He had not wanted Draco to be involved. This was Lucius' fight, a fight for the things he believed in, a fight to make the world a better place for his son. But now Draco was dead, and that better world would not help him. Lucius stared down at the body, trying to think of a way to explain this to himself. But he could not. There was no good explanation for something which had taken his son's life. Lucius Malfoy turned away from the once lively body, trying to think of a reason, just one, to keep going in this struggle which had consumed so much of his life.

_Welcome to the Soldier Side  
Where there's no one here but me  
People all grow up to die  
There is no one here but me_

Lord Voldemort's eyes flickered across the room, looking for Harry Potter. As he scanned the room, he could not help seeing how very many of his men and women and children had fallen. They would not last much longer. Dumbledore's children were well trained, so much better trained than he had been led to believe. He noticed Severus in a shadowy alcove, also watching, and knew at last that the man had given him faulty information. Voldemort tried to work up anger at this, but found it too much effort. He went back to scanning the battlefield for his nemesis. Lord Voldemort knew that he would not survive the fight, and he was determined to take Harry Potter down with him.

_Welcome to the Soldier Side  
There is no one here but me  
People on the soldier's side  
There is no one here but me_

Albus Dumbledore fought to get to Tom Riddle, fought to break the ranks of Death Eaters and confront his one time student. He could not get through, though many fell around him. Too many fell, so many of them children. He saw so many lying motionless, being trampled by friends and enemies alike. Albus tried to keep his eyes on his target. He could not meet the eyes of those dead students, could not accept that he was the cause of their death. It was for a good purpose. A just purpose. A _necessary_ purpose. For some reason, the words Albus Dumbledore had repeated over and over to himself failed to comfort him, and so he turned his attention almost desperately towards Tom Riddle, as though killing his student would make up for the countless others who had already died that night.


End file.
